Call for disgraced ex-mayor's picture removal

A council will discuss removing the official town hall picture of a former mayor who resigned from his position in disgrace following a child grooming scandal.

Shaun Wright served as Rotherham council's children's service boss for five years from 2005 and was also mayor in 2010. He went on to become South Yorkshire's police and crime commissioner in 2012.

The Labour politician eventually resigned in 2014 following the publication of the Jay Report, which found that at least 1,400 young people had been victims of child sexual exploitation in the town between 1997 and 2013.

A Conservative petition for the removal of the picture also called for "a QR code that will inform people why there is a gap" in the mayoral portraits.

The petition, which had 28 signatories, has been backed by exploitation survivor Sammy Woodhouse.

Ms Woodhouse, who was groomed and raped when she was a child in the town and later went on to waive her anonymity, said the picture should have been removed immediately.

She added: "It shouldn’t be this difficult."

Mr Wright had faced repeated calls to step down in the wake of the report by Alexis Jay before his eventual resignation.

The Home Affairs Select Committee later referred two complaints to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) after allegations Mr Wright had lied to MPs in Parliament over the scandal.

Mr Wright denied that he had lied, and in 2018 the IOPC said that there was insufficient evidence for a referral to the Director of Public Prosecutions after finding there was insufficient evidence to back up the allegations.

Councillor Simon Ball, leader of the Conservatives on the council, said to have Mr Wright's mayoral portrait on the wall was "a travesty and an insult to those that suffered".

“We should not be remembering people or displaying people who let our town so badly down, so with that this council should immediately remove the picture once this petition and debate has occurred," he added.

Jo Brown, assistant chief executive at Rotherham Council said: “The petition is an agenda item and will be discussed at our next meeting of full council on Wednesday 17 July, where we will receive any statements in support of it and respond accordingly.”